Effie Maurice eBook

’Oh, I know it is true! I know I shall
see him again! but, sir, he was a Christian.’

‘And so prepared to die, was he not?’

‘Yes, sir, and my poor baby—­’

‘If it is taken away it will go to him in heaven.’

’Oh no, oh no! my baby must not die! My
James was good, and has talked to me hours, and hours,
about being ready to die, but I used to laugh at him—­that
goes to my heart the worst, sir, to laugh at him
who was as gentle as that baby, him who is
in his grave now. Oh if I could forget that!
He is in heaven, sir, but I—­I shall never
get there! It’s of no use to read the Bible
to me, and talk to me—­James used to pray
for me, but it was of no use, I am too wicked.
But if you can save the baby, sir, if God will let
the child live, I shall have a little comfort.’

Mr Maurice had succeeded in rousing the poor woman’s
feelings, but he found that she felt more acutely
than he imagined, and he now brought to his aid the
still small voice of the Gospel. He told her of
the fountain in which sin might be washed away, he
told her of the place where the weary might find rest,
and pointed her to the Lord Jesus Christ, for mercy;
but though she appeared to listen, her thoughts were
evidently fixed upon her husband and child, and the
truths he uttered fell unheeded on her ear. After
talking some time, he again read a portion of the
Bible, prayed with the poor woman, and went away.

‘Oh, how I pity her, father,’ said Harry,
when they were on their way home. ’Do you
really think the little baby will get well?—­I
do hope it will.’

’That is a natural wish, my child; but God knows
what is best, and if He should see fit to remove it,
we have no right to murmur.’

’No, father, but poor Mrs Gilman will feel so
dreadfully, for then she will be entirely alone.
She told us, you know, that before she married James
Gilman she was a poor servant girl, and an orphan,
and she don’t know whether she has any relatives
or not. It will be very hard for her to see everything
she loves taken from her and buried in the grave.’

’So it will, my dear boy, and she deserves all
our sympathy; but it may be that a kind Heavenly Parent,
since she has no earthly ones to guide her, is using
these means to draw the poor widow nearer to Him.
If this chastisement is sent by His hand, it will
undoubtedly be in love and mercy.’

‘Do you think, father, that Mrs Gilman loves
her little James too well?’

’I will answer your question by asking another,
Harry. Do you think her love for the child interferes
with that she owes to God?’

Harry was for a few moments silent. At last he
answered, ’She certainly loves him better than
she does God, and that is not right; but you always
told Effie and me that we could not love each other
too well.’

’And I told you right, provided that
love is made subservient to a holier one. But
your first duty is, in the words of our Saviour, “to
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.”
Obedience to this precept involves a great many other
duties, but none of these should interfere with the
great first command.’